To: dtletters@telegraph.co.uk
Re: Institutional
racism, or a
natural
tendency to
identify with
those most
like
ourselves?Date:
Wednesday 21
September 05

Dear
Editors,

I
always seem to
be hearing or
reading
about "institutional
racism",
in
our schools ("Black
pupils victims
of racism by
teachers"), in
the police
force, in the
National
Health
Service, the
Church
("Black
bishop attacks
Church racism")
you name it,
but it seems
to me that
what is often
being referred
to is probably
not
racism
at all (which
according to
my Collins
Dictionary is
abusive or
aggressive
behaviour
towards
members of
another race,
based on a
belief in
one's own
racial
superiority),
but simply the
expression of
a natural and
scientifically
well-documented
tendency for
people (of all
races,
consciously or
subconsciously)
to identify
more strongly
with those
most like
themselves
(e.g. of their
own race),
with the
inevitable
consequence
that those
less like
themselves
(e.g. of
different
race) are, to
some
extent, discriminated
against.

So
long as we are
human, I don't
see how we are
ever going be
able to change
that. We can
try and
suppress it,
of course,
which is what
we are
expected, and,
in fact,
forced, to do,
but that, I
believe, is a
very unhealthy
and ultimately
also very
dangerous
thing to do.
Just as with
sexual
feelings, it
is far better
to control
them
consciously
than to force
them into the
subconscious,
where they can
do horrendous
damage - to
ourselves and
to others.

Why
we suppress
these feeling
is
understandable
enough,
since we are
still under
the shock of
what the
Nazi's insane
and criminal
misuse of race
and (German)
national
identity led
to. However,
simply denying
their
importance
(which is
considerable)
is not going
to help in the
long term.
Quite the
contrary.

Besides which,
just like
sexual
feelings, when
properly
channelled,
they also have
their positive
side and uses.
All the
racial,
cultural and
linguistic
diversity in
the world
today only
exists because
in the distant
past human
populations
became
isolated from
each other.
When our
species
emerged in
Africa 100-200
thousand years
ago, we must
have all
looked, acted
and
sounded pretty
much the same.
How boring! As
humans
migrated
around the
world and
formed
more-or-less
isolated
populations,
an amazing
degree of
diversity
arose. How
wonderful! But
already,
modern
developments
have destroyed
and reduced
much of that
diversity,
just as they
have destroyed
and reduced so
much of
Earth's
biodiversity.

If we
want to
maintain as
much diversity
as possible
(biological
and human),
which I
certainly
do, then we
have to stop
reducing it
and start
protecting and
cultivating it
instead.
Contrary to
the myths of
multi-culturalism,
you do not do
that by
encouraging
(i.e.
permitting
mass)
intercontinental
migration and
intermarriage
between people
of different
race or
culture.
Deceptively,
you initially
get the
impression of
increased
diversity,
because you do
not have to
travel abroad
in order to
see and
experience it.
But this is
only a
relatively
short-term
effect. As
time goes by
(although it
will take a
few
generations
yet),
different
races and
cultures will
mix, as they
are bound to
do when in
such close and
intimate
proximity to
each other,
blending
together to
create an
increasingly monocultural society
of
increasingly
homogenous
mixed-race
people. How
boring!

There
are people in
powerful
positions
(especially in
the media,
particularly
at the BBC and
papers like
the Guardian
and
Independent,
as well as in
the Labour
Party and
amongst
Liberal
Democrats)
who embrace an
ideology (as
an
understandable overreaction
to the evils
of Nazism and
Apartheid)
that condemns
any
expression, or
even the
slightest
hint, of
European
(white) racial
identity as
"racism". If
you are black,
of course, it
is an entirely
different
matter: black
culture, black
history, black
music, black
communities,
etc. are
celebrated and
encouraged,
but just
imagine the
reaction, if I
were to
replace
"black" with
"white" . . .
.

Race,
and the
desirability
of maintaining
and
cultivating
racial and
cultural
identities and
diversity, IS
a very
difficult,
sensitive (and
frightening!)
subject, but
also a
challenging
and
exhilarating one.
In fact, along
with achieving
sustainability
on our finite
and vulnerable
planet, before
a ruthless
mother nature
does it for
us, it is one
of the two
greatest
challenges of
our time. In
respect to
both, we
urgently need
to come out of
denial and
face up to
them. Otherwise,
we (certainly
our children
and
grandchildren)
are going to
be in deep,
deep trouble.